Date: Wed, 30 Oct 91 01:21:41 CST
From: sjackson (Steve Jackson)
To: eff-a
Subject: Directors Meeting Minutes
Whoops. I sent these to National within a couple of hours of
the meeting, and neglected to post them where Austin could see. Sorry!
MINUTES OF EFF-AUSTIN DIRECTORS' MEETING - Oct. 23, 1991
Prepared by Steve Jackson; blame him for errors or omissions.
These minutes prepared during and immediately after the meeting
through the miracle of SJ's new laptop . . .
Held chez Matt Lawrence, 7:30pm. Present: Steve Jackson, Matt
Lawrence, Jon Lebkowski, Smoot Carl-Mitchell. John Quarterman
and Lar Kaufman had previously warned that they'd be out of town.
"Approval of the minutes" - no one had any problems with the
previously posted minutes of the last meeting.
Recommendations on organization and our official status - Smoot
has nothing new for us yet. A particular point we need to get
clarification on: Does the 501(c)(3) status of the national
organization extend to its branches? E.g. - Can a donation made
to EFF-Austin be tax deductible?
Armadillocon - The table was organized by Jon L. and SJ. Thanks
to the volunteer helpers! Therel Moore, Chris McCubbin and Bruce
Sterling put in a lot of time; others filled in occasionally.
There were a great many signups on the "please send information"
sheet (most from outside Austin!). Two people wrote out membership
checks on the spot.
Everyone was interested and sympathetic, but many people were
surprisingly unfamiliar with the issues.
One person, who works for IBM, was AFRAID to sign our mailing list.
She later changed her mind, but her initial reluctance was very
interesting.
The table needed a good, readable banner and a legible sign
explaining, in ten words, what the group was about. There was
general agreement that a big professionally-made sign or banner
should be one of our first acquisitions, for use at this sort of
event.
We had a computer at the booth, with a large selection of EFF-
related files. This was a good idea, and it was used by some visitors
to the booth, but a user-friendly front end for file reading would have
been helpful. (After the meeting, SJ and Matt developed a design for
such a front end. Matt will implement code as time allows. If it
proves worthwhile, we'll spread it around - maybe as shareware with
a request for donation to EFF-Austin.)
Also at Armadillocon was a panel on electronic freedoms. This turned
into an argument about piracy and did not really address the
stated issues for more than a couple of minutes. Should this be
considered a problem? The moderator, and most of the audience,
obviously had more to say about piracy than about Constitutional
rights, and it's an important issue, but it's not an EFF issue at
the moment.
Other conventions - We still have other possible targets, including
a conference in Dallas on fiber optics (the national EFF does not have
the manpower to go) and a professional conference in San Antonio in
a few months. Which ones should we try to hit? Do we need a Convention
Coordinator, to deal with such appearances?
Meetings and publicity - Long discussion of this general
subject. Consensus reached as follows:
We should hold monthly directors' meetings and quarterly
general meetings. The general meetings should be Events, with
programs of interest to the general computer-literate public.
Before we can hold meetings, we need a meeting site. SJ and
Jon will check various local possibilities and report back.
We need to prepare a membership package for the local group, once
the first meeting is set. SJ will do DTP and printing, Smoot will take care of postage.
SJ will check with John Quarterman on just what our mailing
list format should be.
There should be local dues. Pending Cambridge approval, we like
$10/year, or $5 per students. Membership in the national EFF would
be required. (Meetings should probably be open to everyone, but
there should be some specific membership perks.)
When Bruce Sterling's HACKER CRACKDOWN book is published, EFF-
Austin should sponsor a signing. Maybe at a local bookstore . . .
maybe at a computer store.
Dean Langston is still interested in doing something for
cable TV. He and SJ have been playing phone tag since the first
meeting. SJ will work harder at making a good contact. (Videotaping
speakers at the quarterly meetings would be worthwhile.)
We could also no doubt get on the local radio shows.
CACTUS - Bruce spoke to their last meeting. Matt reports that it
went well. (For out-of-towners, this is the Capital Area Central
Texas UNIX Society.)
Conference/Convention - There is still interest in having the
Austin EFF host a local conference. What we lack most is the high
concept - a ten-word explanation of what the conference is about. The quarterly general meetings would be good practice.
Texas Observer - Richard Steinberg has turned in an article. It is a popularization with lots of quotes, rather than an in-depth look at the issues, but it reads quite well.
UT Law School - We have a potential liaison, a second-year law
student who runs the Bamboo Garden BBS in Austin. Jon will invite
him to the next directors' meeting.
Legislative initiative - This is far in the future yet, but
SJ will bring copies of the Texas "computer crime" law to the
next meeting.
The Houston group had a successful "CyberLunch" a couple of weeks ago, and collected lots of names.
Next meeting: Wednesday, Nov. 27, at Matt's.
Meeting after next: We want to do a holiday party sometime
around Christmas or New Year's. Matt has volunteered to host it.
Everyone will be invited.